DI Bellamy Morray
my own dear love, he is strong and bold Bellamy Morray is half English, half Italian Romani and trouble on both sides - not that you'd know it to meet his parents these days. Born and raised in Petersham (All Saints House, specifically, which he intends to move back into just as soon as his mother pries his father off his work and they retire to France), he pursued a career in law enforcement and is today a Detective Inspector with the CID, as well as one of probably the only two Roma men in all of NSY. He lives alone (except for his cat, Drustan, foisted on him by Uncle Martel and under the impression that all space is Drustan-space, including Bellamy's arse at 4AM and the breasts of any woman he brings home) in a London flat, occupies his time mostly with work and the odd attendance of a poetry reading. Nearsighted, he wears contacts most of the time and glasses around the flat - except for when he's in a real bind and resorts to sorcery to temporarily correct his sight. and he cares not what comes after Arguably one of the most easygoing in his extended family, Bellamy's temperament isn't marked by the moodswings and intensity that typify some of his relatives - and as he's so mild and quiet in comparison, he's shamelessly taken advantage of this fact to fly under the radar in his own exploits. Aware that he can be underestimated, he's made a career out of encouraging the perception of himself as slightly too sincere for comfort and possibly a bit dim; he's a little wry, but most of the time he likes to present himself as distressingly earnest, laidback and amicable, if a little vague. Underneath that he's just as intense as the rest of them- just more discreet about it. He isn't any less impulsive or prone to troublemaking, but he does have a real knack for presenting his impulses as totally rational and/or discretion (e.g. he may or may not have jumped out of a moving vehicle to stop another car...with his body, but he had a really good reason for it and anyway most people haven't heard that story). The cliché of the heir to wealth who sits around with his thumbs up his arse and wouldn't know an honest day's work if it hit him in the balls is...not accurate in this case, just like his sister isn't as soft as you'd expect; he doesn't spurn the privileges that they've been born into (and has been known to shamelessly take advantage of them), but he was taught not to take anything for granted and furthermore if he didn't have something to devote himself to he would probably die of sheer boredom. Bellamy likes to be occupied; he likes puzzles and he likes being a bit of a puzzle himself. His dedication to precise and slightly upper class good manners and polished mannerisms is in some ways a reaction to the expectations people have about the Romani; it's safe to say that although half his heritage is Italian, Bellamy doesn't have a whole lot of fondness for that country and can think of few places he'd rather be less. (Why so racist, Italy?) his words ring sweet as a chime of gold and his eyes are lit with laughter Cypra Morray ✘ Bellamy's beloved little sister, born when he was already hitting his teens; it's often suggested that he must fuss about her since she's so much younger, but being wryly aware of the fact that he should probably worry more about the people in her path has led to a laissez-faire and indulgent attitude towards her. If she needs him to get her out of trouble, he'll do it, but on the whole he trusts her to take care of her own business and tell him all the good parts. It's thanks to her he has an enduring fondness of poetry (reasoning, as he does, that if he wasn't inclined to like it then he probably became inclined out of self-defense), and he tolerates how hilarious she finds his love-life with pretty good grace. Ernest Morray ✘ Bellamy's father. They're of an equal height (6'2") and similarly thoughtful in their ways and comments, but the superficial similarities end about there; 'Dad' is a serious (even grim) older man who's more at home with numbers than people and who spent the entirety of Bellamy's adolescence wondering, slightly anxiously, if he shouldn't be concerned by how easy his son was to deal with during that time. (He was right to do so, Bellamy got away with all sorts of interesting shit by virtue of being quiet and amiable.) While Bellamy doesn't have his father's head for figures, he can do math and while he's never actually pointblank asked any questions about the circumstances of his own birth, he's...aware that some things don't line up as respectably as others. There are other questions he doesn't ask - about the scarring on Ernest's neck, the memorial ring he still wears, and the older sibling that they didn't have. He's never been forbidden to, and he has a vague understanding of what came before their family in that respect, but it's not an easy topic by any stretch of the imagination and largely Bellamy has respected his father's privacy in this as well as their immediate family history. Teophania Morray ✘ Bellamy's mother, and the reason that he rarely if ever brings women home; at least one break-up was preceded by an innocent inquiry if it would be so bad that Mrs Morray would see a girl next to her son and hear wedding bells. 'Mama' has a dutiful son in Bellamy, who hasn't lived at home for years but still keeps a room there and visits often, but he's perpetually dodging the question of when and with who he intends to settle down and give her some grandbabies - luckily murder mysteries are a good distraction. Okay, that's not actually why he's worked with her before; Teophania has a good head for solving crime and while he endeavours to keep her out of his professional business, sometimes she gets quietly involved and that's not always such a bad thing. He would rather eat glass than ask any of the questions that have sprung to mind over the years about her past - or her late first husband, Malcolm Orsini, Duca di Soriano nel Cimino. Martel Lefevre ✘ Bellamy's uncle (father's cousin). Uncle Martel describes himself as 'retired' but tends not to say retired from what, exactly (MI6 according to popular rumour), and has long doted on his younger cousin's children, cheerfully crediting himself for their parents' happiness. (Ernest finds his cousin exasperating.) He had a history with Malcolm Orsini prior to either Orsini's marriage to Teophania or his cousin becoming mixed up in Orsini's affairs, and casually used Ernest as an excuse to conspire with his wife to kill the man; this is a part of the family history that Bellamy is not aware of, but Martel knew Teophania was pregnant at the time and has considered his own involvement to equate to an obligation to look out for and take an interest in his nephew. Maria Lefevre ✘ Bellamy's aunt (father's cousin by marriage). Aunt Maria is probably one of Bellamy's favourite relatives and he's always been attached to her, casually excusing her terrifying penchant for knives as a personal eccentricity. (Top ten things he doesn't need to know: exactly how brutally Malcolm Orsini was murdered by the Lefevres.) Maria and Martel have been, together, primarily responsible for Bellamy's study of sorcery; his own mother is less interested in the family pursuit and so he looked to his aunt and uncle for instruction, finding that it came naturally to him. It's one of many reasons he considers himself to be very close to them (much to his father's sometime consternation; it was years before Ernest wasn't slightly unnerved by Maria at best). Nourelle Lefevre Kirkeby ✘ Bellamy's cousin (sort of). The eldest of his cousins and a good twenty years or so Bellamy's own senior, Nourelle and he aren't very close but he's got a very healthy respect for the most like Martel of the Lefevre siblings. (Which is funny, since Nourelle isn't actually Martel's biological daughter, but that's someone else's story entirely.) He's always sort of impressed by how sane her husband has remained after marrying into their family and perhaps in response to this he's had a bad habit of buying their children toys that make horrible noises. Nicolas Lefevre ✘ Bellamy's cousin (sort of). Nicolas is a naval man and the forerunner of Bellamy's own scheme - 'no one will notice what I'm doing because my sisters are crazy' - but unfortunately for Nicolas, he doesn't have Bellamy's knack for it and it's never really worked as well. The working theory is that because he's Martel's son rather than Ernest's (and Maria's rather than Teophania's) he's just fucking crazier than Bellamy, and this is...pretty much accurate. As the bachelor hold outs of the family, Nicolas drags his little cousin out drinking on a regular basis. Sera Lefevre LaDoux ✘ Bellamy's cousin (sort of). The youngest and most dramatic of Lefevres, Bellamy dutifully adores his attention-seeking cousin after having spent quite a lot of time with her growing up; of the Lefevres, she is without a doubt his father's favourite and the closest to him of the three, putting her in convenient proximity to Bellamy and his own sister. (By the way, between Nicolas and Bellamy, LaDoux's stag night was more along the lines of a familial hazing ritual.) he is jubilant as a flag unfurled Frederick Abberline ✘ The other Roma man in NSY. Nathan Lynch ✘ Admirably bypassing what could've been a deeply awkward first encounter, Nathan and Bellamy have been partnered together on the murder of Annabel Chapman. Teddy Daniels ✘ tba Monty Pippin ✘ Bellamy's long-time friend and partner in crime, father of Bellamy's toddling godson. oh a girl, she'd not forget him Hasibe Ozcelik ✘ Bellamy is sure that at some point, he'll figure out what the hell he's doing here. Probably. Morag Alastair ✘ tba Lourdes Pippin ✘ Monty's wife and Rome's mother; reminds Bellamy oddly of both his aunt and uncle. my own dear love, he is all my world Bellamy was born in 1977, the first child of Ernest and Teophania Morray, on May 1st; his mother was already pregnant with him while still married to the late Malcolm Orsini, a detail that he later discovered for himself and has opted not to comment on for presumably obvious reasons. Raised in his parents' Petersham home, All Saints House, Bellamy grew up in wealth and privilege; Teophania hadn't come from money but married into it twice, which by all accounts worked out a lot better for all involved the second time (a love-match, rather than a philanderer intent on having a beautiful wife to corrupt). Except Malcolm Orsini, who was (helpfully!) murdered by Martel and Maria Lefevre; for a family so apparently respectable now, they certainly have a colourful history. (The Lefevres have a colourful everything, but the Morrays tend to have been more staid.) Throughout his childhood, Bellamy was his parents' pride and joy and accordingly spoiled; he was nearly a teenager (and soon off to Eton) when his sister, Cypra, came along and very little changed there. Rather than being irritated by the attention she got or disinterested in a small squalling infant, he found her completely charming and spent a lot of his adolescence entertaining his smaller sister. Later, when she was old enough to entertain herself, he followed her interests with a casually indulgent kind of an air and eventually developed a fondness for poetry (although not enough of one to try writing any of his own) that he argues may have been self-defense. She gave him some headaches in her own teen years, but on the whole Bellamy trusts her to take care of her own self and to know when to call him in if she does ''need him. Aside from being his sister's confidante, Bellamy attended UC London (with a minor in Viking Studies that he took purely because the fact it was available struck him as totally brilliant; he commemorated this choice with a tattoo of a fully rigged ship - that he asserts is a viking pirate - on his right bicep). His university career is one way in which he does actually reflect the privileged cliché; he attended because it was expected of him and it occupied his mind, not out of any real ambition for higher education. From there he went into training with the Metropolitan police - this decision wasn't met with universal support, and Bellamy sat through several lectures on why it was a completely unacceptable choice of career for him from his father. He did so with extreme patience, letting Ernest talk himself out, and then did it anyway (promising his mother he'd be very careful). He's since been made a Detective Inspector and shows no signs of retiring and seeking some more suitable career, much to Ernest's chagrin. These days, they just don't really talk about Bellamy's career at all. They also tend not to go into detail about what Uncle Martel and Aunt Maria taught him in his teens and university years- they are the family go-to for study of sorcery and Bellamy, who took an immediate interest in what he deprecatingly refers to as the family knack, went to them when he realized his mother wasn't quite as invested in it. He's been practising without their supervision for roughly a decade now and fairly accomplished, although he tends not to advertise either his ability or his particular skill for it. All the same, he's displayed a marked tendency in his personal life to date out of women who also share a connection to the supernatural. (And he's not unaware that the Met sometimes does make use of police officers with abilities most people don't have; Uncle Martel has alluded vaguely to experience with this.) Speaking of his dating life: he's currently single off an amicable break up, and doesn't seem at all likely to settle down and have some damn grandchildren any time soon, as much as his mother might want him to. Bellamy assumes that he'll fall properly, deeply, hideously in love sooner or later - it happens to everyone in his family, like a genetic predisposition to heart conditions or cancer - but is in no particular rush and figures it'll happen when it happens whether he plans for it or not. (Still, in the meantime, women do not get taken back to All Saints.) His life is relatively unremarkable on the surface, which is how he likes it. as sharply sweet to my heart he seems as the fragrance of acacia '''Tattoos': DUM SPIRO SPERO (while I breathe, I hope) across his shoulders, GNOTHI SEAUTON (know thyself) across his abdomen, William Blake's Ancient of Days on his chest, a fully rigged (viking pirate, according to Bellamy) ship on his right bicep (university was a special time), an eight point star on his left bicep, six dots on the inside of his left wrist and lastly plain, thin bands around his right forearm. spooks-7-109.png|ship & bands spooks-7-111.png|dum spiro spero spooks701_039.png|eight point star spooks701_041.png|gnothi seauton spooks701_043.png|ancient of days and i wish i'd never met him Bellamy Morray is an original character and completely, entirely Kay's fault; anything recognizable does not belong to me, including but not limited to the poetry of Dorothy Parker, Richard Armitage's heartstoppingly pretty face (Ammmy I lol'd), references to certain high fantasy novel series and some inspiration from Georgette Heyer's heroes. Category:Characters Category:Living Category:The London Mysteries